Turning Point USA held their annual women’s leadership summit over the weekend. Did the summit reveal a fracturing of the movement that helped elect President Trump in 2024?
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Turning Point USA, the conservative group now headed by Erika Kirk, widow of the late Charlie Kirk, has just wrapped up their annual Women’s Leadership Summit in San Antonio. Over the weekend, more than 2,000 young female conservatives listen to speeches and discussions from online influencers. Madeline Peltz is a journalist who’s covered this event for the last few years. She’s also author of a forthcoming book on the conservative movement, and she’s with us now to tell us more about it. Madeline, good morning. Thanks for joining us.
MADELINE PELTZ: Good morning. Thank you for having me.
MARTIN: As I mentioned, Turning Point USA was led by Erika Kirk’s husband, Charlie, until his assassination last year. What was Erika’s message for the young women gathered there?
PELTZ: Erika Kirk spoke out against modern feminism, saying that being a woman is about supporting and complimenting men through marriage, not competing with them in career. She advocates for young women to follow what she calls biblical womanhood, but her remarks were quickly overshadowed by a heckler who said, Erika Kirk protects pedophiles, before she was removed. And though the audience rallied behind her, she struggled to get through the rest of her speech, and tears were falling down her face.
MARTIN: What was – I don’t think I understand that. Like, what was she talking about, or does it matter?
PELTZ: Well, the organization has faced an onslaught of conspiracy theories ever since its founder was assassinated in September of last year through a campaign led by Candace Owens, who was one of Charlie Kirk’s best friends – has smeared Erika Kirk, saying wild conspiracy theories as far as connections to Jeffrey Epstein, connections to the national security state, and a lot of these conspiracy theories have proliferated throughout the public.
MARTIN: I see. So what were some of the other main speakers, and what was their message? Was it similar to Erika Kirk’s?
PELTZ: Yes. Another speaker was an influencer named Alex Clark. She’s very popular with conservative young women. She’s the host of “Culture Apothecary” Turning Point’s health and wellness podcast associated with the Make America Healthy Again movement. Clark over the last few years has faced criticism for telling young women they should be getting married and planning a family even before they graduate high school, despite herself being unmarried and childless over the age of 30. And this year, she used her remarks to announce her engagement.
MARTIN: OK. So what would you say was the main issue that came up during the summit? Or was just the overall theme is sort of directing young women into a particular life course?
PELTZ: That’s definitely the overall theme. Over the last couple of years, Turning Point’s outreach to young women has coalesced around the Make America Healthy Again movement. But over the last year, since the new Trump administration, a growing wedge has developed between this constituency and the administration. So while last year was really a victory lap for MAHA, this year, there’s a lot of divide that sort of put it at the back of the themes, and as a result, they sort of fell back on typical conservative talking points.
MARTIN: OK, so just very briefly – so was this rift evident at all during the summit, or was it more that you just didn’t see the MAHA influence there?
PELTZ: Yeah. There just wasn’t a lot of talk of Donald Trump this year.
MARTIN: That’s Madeline Peltz. She’s a journalist covering the conservative movement. Madeline, thank you.
PELTZ: Thank you.
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